10 Ways an Outside General Counsel Subscription Can Help Your Business
One of our popular offerings at ZVMLaw is our flat rate corporate counsel subscription which allows small to mid-sized companies to have the benefit of an in-house legal department at a fraction of the cost. Here are ten ways our outside general counsel subscriptions can help your business.
Adding a Trusted Legal Advisor to Your Business Leadership Team
Large companies have dedicated in-house legal teams with a General Counsel or Chief Legal Officer who is a member of the company’s leadership team. Small to mid-sized companies often don’t have the need or budget for a fulltime legal department but would benefit from a dedicated and easily accessible attorney who is on their team and understands their business. Traditional outside counsel typically don’t fill this role and instead bill on an hourly and as-needed basis. Our corporate counsel subscriptions allow small to mid-sized companies to have the benefit of an in-house legal department without the associated cost. The ongoing nature of our subscriptions mean that we get to know your team and your business, and the flat rate structure means that you don’t have to decide whether having an attorney present at leadership meetings is “worth” the hourly rate.
Reviewing and Negotiating Your Business Contracts
It is important to have an attorney review and negotiate your business contracts before you sign them, but the cost and long lead times of most outside counsel, and the “roadblock” mentality of others, make it difficult for most small to mid-sized businesses to get a legal review of most contracts. Our corporate counsel subscriptions solve this problem by providing a quick-turn review of your business contracts and transactions as part of our flat monthly fee. Our attorneys will review all of your contracts, including letters of intent, leases, purchase agreements, service agreements, vendor agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and more.
Establishing Your Standard Contracts and Playbooks
Every business needs standard and consistent contracts and a defined workflow and approval process to utilize them. However, most “one-off” outside counsel are either too costly, too risk-averse (leading to overly complex, and unworkable contracts) or simply don’t prioritize this work against larger and more regular clients. This can lead many small to mid-sized businesses to download a standard template from the internet or create DIY forms, which can result in substantial risk for future problems. With our corporate counsel subscription, our attorneys prepare customized standard contracts for your business, such as master services agreements (“MSAs”), terms of sale, vendor agreements, software as a service (“SaaS”) agreements, licensing agreements, non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”), and more. In addition, our attorneys create custom tailored playbooks to allow your business team to negotiate terms of standard contracts within predefined parameters, all as part of a flat monthly subscription fee.
Protecting Your Intellectual Property (IP)
Intellectual property is many companies’ most important asset, yet protecting it can be expensive and difficult with traditional law firms. IP can include your company’s trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. Our attorneys can help you identify, protect, and license your company’s intellectual property as part of a flat monthly subscription fee, with no hidden costs or upcharges.
Resolving Disputes and Lawsuits
When your business is involved in a dispute or lawsuit, our attorneys help to assess risk and formulate a strategy to resolution as part of your corporate counsel subscription. In some cases, our attorneys directly represent your business in court, while in others, we partner with outside counsel to manage costs and strategy. We can also assist with e-discovery obligations including preserving, collecting, reviewing, and producing responsive documents.
Ensuring Compliance with Laws and Regulations
Our corporate counsel subscription clients also enjoy peace of mind knowing that someone is handling the parts most people would rather ignore. We work with your business team to identify the laws and regulations that apply to your business and to formulate a compliance plan for your business. We also ensure that your business complies with required corporate formalities and has appropriate governance documents in place.
Addressing Employment Law Matters
When employment issues arise, our corporate counsel subscription also covers help with that. Our attorneys act as an extension of your company’s human resources (HR) function and can assist with preparing employee handbooks, policies, and agreements. We can also help with non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, incentive plans, and with ensuring that disciplinary matters or termination are handled appropriately.
Managing Risk
Successful business decisions typically involve taking some risk. Drawing on both their knowledge of your business and their past experience advising others in your position and our corporate counsel subscription clients get help from a trusted advisor with identifying, understanding, managing, and mitigating the risks they face.
Strategic Advice For Future Growth
One of the most valuable aspects of in-house counsel can be their ability to combine legal expertise with deep knowledge of your company and its goals and values to provide tailored strategic advice. Because our attorneys work with you on an ongoing basis and understand these aspects, they are able to fill this role at a fraction of the usual price tag for hiring a full time legal position.
Overseeing Strategic Transactions
As your business grows and life or the market changes, it often makes sense to partner with, acquire, or sell your business to another company. As part of your corporate counsel subscription, our attorneys can help you and your business evaluate, negotiate, document, and protect itself in these strategic transactions.